Apparatus for making spirally-wound tubes.



I c. F. JENKINS. APPARATUS FOR vMAKING SPIRALLY WOUND TUBES.

vAIIPLIOA'JJIOH IIIIBD J UNE 24, I908. 941,255. 7

Patented Nov. 23, 1909.

' To all'whom a y ma n.-

UMTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES FRANCIS Jnux'ms', or wisnme'rbn, mentor or COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR,ZBY

MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, T0 SINGLE SERVICE PACKAGE CORPORATION OF AMERICA,

A CORPORATION OF' NEW Armmmus r'oa MAKING srmALLY-woum Turns;

Specification of Letters latent.

Patented Nov. 23, 1909.

Application filed .Tune 24, 1908. I Serial 110. 440,175.

Be it known, that I, CHARLES FRANCIS JENKINS, citizen 'of theUnitedSta-tes, residing zit-Washington, in the District of Columbia,have invented'certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus forMaking Spirally-Wound Tubes, of which the following is a specification,reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

It is common to form tubes by winding relatively narrow strips upon acylindrical mandrel and to do this automatically and very rapidly bymeans of an endless belt oblique to the axis of a mandrel and having oneof its folds making a turn around the latter, the strips being fedbetween the belt and mandrel, upon which. they are firmly pressed by thebelt. The belt at the same time that it forms the strips uponthe'mandrel causes them to slide around the same and at the same timetoslip toward its free end. The operativeness of the apparatus dependsupon having the frictional old of the belt upon the strips stronger thanthe frictional hold of the strips u on the mandrel, and with the properbe t and a very' smooth mandrel certain kinds of stock may be used withlittle difiiculty. With other kinds of stock, however, the operation ofsuch devices is not satisfactory. In makin paperv tubesufor example,where superpose thin overlapping gummed stri s are used,

serious difliculty is oftenjfoun for strong pressure is needed to secureproper adhesion of the mmed strips at every point, and

with 'thls pressure the belt ma slip on the paper, or thethin stock bewr nkled or the edges may overlap or be distorted, especially if any gumchance to reach the mandrel,

40 Practically it is also found that the difliand in any case much poweris needed.

culties increase with speed of operation, and that thereby the out titis" limited. It is obvious also that if t e friction of the belt on thestock beat any time increased by increasing the tension, the frictionofthei stock upon'the mandrel isal'soincreased so that nothing isained.- The objectof t is invention is to eliminate .all thesedifficulties bylesseningthe friction of; the stock upon the mandrelwithout lessening the friction of the belt upon the stock. ThlS object:is attained by means of devices illustrated in 'the accompanyingdrawings, in which, v

Figure 1 is a plan view of a novel mandrel and devices cobperatintherewith. Fig. 2 is a like view of a portion of the same mandrel shownon a larger scale. Fig. 3 is a cross section of the mandrel.

In these figures, A represents a mandrel, preferably hollow, as shown,and rigidly held by any suitable device such as a clamp B. Around thismandrel is wound one fold C of the usual oblique endless belt. Thatpresses is provided with rollers -D each mounted to rotate in a planeparallel to the line of the belts travel and each projecting slightlyoutside the general surface 'of the mandrel. The form of the rollers maybe the rollers are sunk in thesurface 'of the mandrel, set obliquely andbarrel-shapedor such manner that.,the lines of contact of the rollerswith a tube formed upon the mandrel will extend from end to end of therollers, respectively, and will be parallel to and slightly without thegeneral cylindrical surface of-the mandrel. Forthus mounting the rollersI have shown the mandrel as .provided with six equally spacedlongitudinal recesses E each adapted to receive a rectilineal series ofrollers. The rollers of each series are mounted in apertures F in fiatbars G to rotate on shafts H, the bars G being laterally notched at I tofacilitate construction. The rollers of each series bein thus mountedthe several bars are inserte in the corres onding recesses, which theypreferably, fil andare removably fixed in the belt is wound about thisroller bearing segment of the mandrel, as shown in Fig. 1, upon whichthe formed stock slips-perfectly and with the a plication of very littlepower, whatever t e" tension of the belt. .It is very desirable thecontfius edges of the stock strips should be gether but without suchpressure as to 1n ure' the ed es even when the stock-is of paper, and ifthere is some difficulty in causing precisely the same portion of thesurface of segment of the roller upon which the belt tapered fromthe'middle toward each end inly pressed tothe belt to run with perfectaccuracy upon greatly varied and the may evenbe spherreal, but I preferthe orm shown, in which place by screws J. -The enveloping fold 'ofprovided,

the mandrel, a belt-governedpaper-guide is This consists of smooth metalstrip K wound spirally, at the pro er angle, about the mandrel at oneside 0 in such manner that it fits the mandrel closely yet slides freelythereon. This strip is connected to a clip L through which the beltpasses, the proportions being such that one edge of the strip is atprecisely the proper distance from the beltto serve as a guide foroneedge-of the stock strip. If now the fold of the belt varies inposition with respect to the mandrel, the position of the guide, and ofthe stock strip, is correspondingly varied automatically. Practically,it is found that while much power is saved, the speed of operation maysafely be increased so as to increase very largely the output of themachine, and at the same time all the difiiculties mentioned at the outset disappear, even gum upon the mandrel causing neither vexation nordelay.

Obviously, the construction set forth need not be closely followed, andI desire to claim my invention, both broadly and specifically.

What I claim is:

1. In amachine for making spirally wound tubes, the combination with ama-n drel having a belt-receiving segmentwhich is provided With rollersprojecting sli 'htly outside its general-surface, of a tube forming beltpassing obliquely around said segment.

2. A mandrel, for use in making paper the belt,

tubes, provided at various points'around its lateral surface with aseries of rollers, mounted in the mandrel to project sli htly from saidsurface and to rotate in p anes transverse tothe mandrel axis.

3. A mandrel provided with a plurality of relatively small rollersmounted in the mandrel to project slightly from its surface and torotate upon their own axes in planes oblique to the axis of the mandrel.

4. A mandrel provided with a plurality of approximately parallel rollersmounted in the mandrel, oblique to its axis, to project slightly beyondits general surface, all

points in the outermost surface element of each roller being atapproximately the same distance from the axis of the mandrel.

The combination with a mandrel and a tube forming belt passing obliquelyaround the same, of a stock-strip guide, and means whereby the beltinmoving longitudinally with respect to the mandrel automatically causes acorresponding movement of said guide. v

6. The combination with a mandrel and a. tube-forming belt passingaround the mandrel, of a movable stock-strip guide alongside the beltand a loop loosely embracing the belt and connected to said guide. Intestimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.CHARLES FRANCIS 'JENKIN Witnesses:

JAMES L. (,lnitw-roan, R. CRAIG GREENE.

